Oxley Woods Living

Come the middle of August, and we still had issues.  This was the third, and most recent snagging list we submitted to the site manager at Oxley Woods.  Some things were outstanding from the previous two snag lists, and a few new items.  To be honest, there’s been a few more bugs and troubles, but those have been dealt with on a more ad-hoc basis.

It’s worth pointing out that now, more than two months after submitting this third snagging list, that some items still remain outstanding.  Many things seem to be “on order” or “back order” for week upon week at a time, and others, for example bathroom shelving, shower doors and such have either been supplied faulty, or even the wrong size in the case of the shelving, which we are still waiting on.

Anyway, make of it what you will, this is our third snagging list, again verbatim from that supplied to George Wimpey…

Items from July 14th list still outstanding:

Ground floor Utility Room:

Affected doors (scratches and marks) where removed over a week ago, still no sign of them being replaced.

Door badly repaired/bodged rather than being replaced as promised multiple times. Apparently “no doors on site” over a week ago, and still awaiting a replacement.

Work top edge still untidy/chipped.

Ground floor main living/dining/kitchen area:

Scratch on sink, front centre.

Scratches on worktop are still there, but getting worse also, very poor surface for a kitchen.

Fridge and freezer door warps. Apparently this is “how they are”, and replacement will not remedy this.

Scratched/marked panels on: Extractor fan hood, door to left of head, 2nd to left of hood, small end door, fridge door. All on “upper row” in kitchen.

Water marks on walls.

The house still appears to be leaking, this morning below the double plug by full length window is damp again and the tide mark certainly appears to be increasing in size.

First floor bathroom and hall area:

Two panels behind sink and toilet (opening panels) badly scratched. Apparently been on order for a month or more.

Only two shelves in built in cupboard, apparently further shelves been on order for several weeks.

First floor living room:

Dent in radiator. Replaced with another dented radiator, awaiting replacement, again “been on order” for several weeks after other replacements were dented before even being unpacked.

First floor bedroom:

Water marks following water leak on door facing wall and above window in two locations.

Second floor bathroom and hall:

Both panels (high large panels) damaged/chipped.

Gaps above bath, and beside window/panels beside the bath in the waterproof sealant have been fixed, but sealant is turning bright blue and peeling back in some places?!

Second floor middle bedroom:

Dented radiator. Replaced with another faulty radiator, apparently new one “on order”.

Second floor exterior:

Front bedroom window sill is in a very poor state, bubbles, flakes, and generally terrible. Worst of all windows.

Items from July 28th list still outstanding:

Ground floor exterior:

Plants trampled under kitchen window by workmen.

Marks on front driveway from cherry picker etc. Now worse (see later in list/covering letter).

Stain/dark window paint on several panels front and back.

First floor exterior:

Dark stain on lower edges of silver panels on balcony.

Juliet door frame chipped/scuffed by lock area.

Edge of silver panel next to red panel by juliet chipped and marked by edges.

First floor interior:

Balcony door becomes jammed and “sticky” in hot/warm weather, or whistles in the wind. Several repair attempts results in either sticky door or whistling in the wind.

Second floor exterior:

Window repair on front in particular in a poor state, not “unable to tell” quality as assured by Nigel.

Large silver and taupe panels on balcony stained / paint overspill.

New issues that have become apparent since last list submitted.

Radiator / towel rail in utility is rough/scratchy on top end pieces, could easily tear/pull on towel or clothes fabric. Bathroom radiators are perfectly smooth.

Large tar footprints on car driveway and “path” to door put there when path was having tarmac applied.

“Something” has been spilled onto the front path outside the front door and set hard, looks disgusting.

When we first moved into our Oxley Woods home we were advised by the site manager to live with the place a while before we submitted any snagging, to get to the know the place, and give ourselves chance to find any niggles or things we may not notice on first, second, or even third inspection.

Well, two weeks after submitting our first snagging list, we handed over the following list of additional problems, not all are technically “snagging”, but they were problems none the less, and it seemed like a logical place to put them down on paper.

Once again this is a verbatim copy of the list submitted to the site manager/George Wimpey, so apologies for any nonsense!

Ground floor exterior:

Unprotected open Stanley blade left unattended by front door when our five year old Son was around.

Plants have been trampled under kitchen window by workmen.

Above front door still looks unfinished, green panels visible.

Chips in upper silver panel to right of front door.

On lhs of the house the 2nd panel back has a corner chipped/unpainted/masked on the bottom left of the panel.

All front window sills in a terrible state, worse than ever.

Marks on front driveway from cherry picker etc.

Rear utility room window sill.

Stain on several panels front and back.

Mess on floor and children’s toys all around, mastik etc.

First floor exterior:

Above balcony door similar to front door, but is neater (no green panels show).

Dark stain on lower edges of silver panels on balcony.

Juliet door frame chipped/scuffed by lock area.

Red panel to left of Juliet (looking out) badly chipped in multiple locations.

Edge of silver panel next to red panel also chipped and marked.

Juliet sill in a very poor state.

Same for living and office room windows, look very poor, office window chipped during “repair”.

First floor interior:

Juliet door whistles in the wind if blowing the wrong way.

Balcony door becomes jammed and “sticky” in hot/warm weather.

Second floor exterior:

As other floors, window repairs terrible state, not “unable to tell” repairs as assured by Nigel.

Large silver and taupe panels on balcony badly stained.

Second floor interior:

One of our low energy “8000 hour” bulbs has stopped working already.  See here also.

Dent in rear bedroom radiator (centre top).

Balcony door howls in the wind, and is becoming increasingly hard to open/close. Abi is physically unable to close the door in hot weather, I have to use a great deal of force to get it to shut and lock. Worse than “jamming” first floor balcony door.

Well, this is a bit of a heart on the sleeve moment. We’ve had a lot of issues with our new eco home at Oxley Woods since we bought it, and, of course, we’ve submitted various snagging lists (aka snag lists) to the site manager at George Wimpey since we moved in. We’ve decided to share these lists on our site, partly on the basis that a “problem shared is a problem halved”, and also if other people are experiencing anything similar, they can take comfort that they’re not alone.

It may also be helpful to find common issues, and maybe get feedback as to whether our list of problems is more or less than you should expect from a brand new, award winning home on a flagship eco house development.

Please excuse the scruffy formatting and some of the poor English, this is a verbatim copy of the list we handed in on the 15th July, and some of it you might have to see to understand.  I’ve attached a few images to the post, but not all, as it’s laborious going over them all again!

Ground floor – Hall and utility room:

Utility room:

poor fit/gap above large storage area where black wood meets ceiling.

Scratch on large door with fitted metal drawers, touch up appears to have been attempted.

Scratch on large door with fitted metal drawers, touch up appears to have been attempted.

Chips on top of washing machine door.

Chunk taken out of base of door on inside of utility room.

Missing insulation on solar pipes.

Work top edge chipped where mates with large storage area.

Stiff door lock.

Stiff plug pull/release.

Hall: Front door howls in the wind

Front door warped or unevenly fitted top to bottom.

Possible: missing cover plates on side of plastic door bell cover in hall.

Ground floor kitchen, dining and living room:

Kitchen: Scratch on sink, front centre.

Scratch below window on work surface.

Fridge and freezer doors uneven fit top to bottom.

Scratched/marked panels on: Extractor fan hood;

Door to left of hood, blemished and scratched.

2nd to left f hood scratched/marked.

Fridge door.

Small end door scratched. All on “upper row”.

Water damaged shelf below sink

Window lock does not operate smoothly, no “spring return” as in other rooms.

Sliding door: top right you can see the interior wood panel etc, looks unsightly/unfinished?

Water marks above full length window on both sides, around double plug, on ceiling and wall following leak.

Large chunk out of floor in kitchen area.

All lower level doors in kitchen are not lined up, uneven gaps etc.

First floor bathroom and hall area:

Two panels behind sink and toilet (opening panels) badly scratched.

Only two shelves in built in cupboard (should be four as in showrooms!?)

No fixing for shelving at all.

First floor living room:

Glass panel outside Juliet window faulty, noted well before completion, still not replaces.

Dent in radiator.

First floor bedroom:

Water marks following water leak on door facing wall and above window in two locations.

Second floor bathroom and hall:

Both panels (high large panels) damaged/chipped.

Lock was fitted upside down! (Fixed so I could use the bathroom!).

Gaps above bath, and beside window/panels beside the bath in the waterproof filler.

Gap below shower window towards tap end, doesn’t seal water tight.

Landing: Balcony door sticky, hard to close, possibly warped outwards towards base.

Leaking through lock. (hopefully fixed).

Second floor middle bedroom:

Dented radiator.

Second floor rear bedroom:

Rough edge/poorly fitted high level window (underneath).

Water marks on wall following water leak.

Ground floor exterior:

Gas meter cover lock doesn’t work, fitted in wrong direction

Water drips from full length window over a day after even light rain (not seen on other houses)?

Rear sliding door sill/step chipped/damaged in more than one location.

Some panels appear poorly fitted.

Area above front door looks messy and unfinished (previously mentioned).

Excessive gap below kitchen window besides front door (reveals green panelling).

First floor exterior

Juliet window balcony surround in a terrible state. Scratched, untidy etc.

Windows in poor state, even worse after bodged work as part of leak fix attempts.

Finish above balcony door is same as ground floor front door, untidy, unfinished appearance.

Second floor exterior:

Poor repairs and poor state of window surrounds.

Middle bedroom window bodged, and also chipped, messy.

Rear bedroom window poor state of repair.

Exterior generally is in quite poor order, window surrounds and such. Made worse following heavy handed and apparently not requested mastic work on side and rear window frames!